1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a front pillar for a vehicle which is preferably prevented from interfering with a front door while being deformed so as to absorb an impact applied thereto.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known a front pillar for a vehicle which is designed to be deformed when an object collides thereagainst to thereby absorb an impact generated by the collision. For example, there is described such a front pillar for a vehicle in JP-A-9-39833.
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the related art front pillar shown in this publication. A front pillar 200 includes a pillar main body 203 formed into a tube-like body by joining a pillar inner 201 with a pillar outer 202 and a substantially U-shaped impact absorbing panel 204 acting to absorb an impact which is attached to the front face of the pillar main body 203 with an opening side thereof being oriented toward the pillar main body 203.
Here, reference numeral 206 denotes a resin garnish; 207: a windshield; 208: a sealant; 211: a window sash; 212, 213: weather strips; and 214: a window glass of a front door.
Referring to FIG. 8, the function of the front pillar 200 will be described. FIG. 8 is a functional diagram for explaining the function of the related art front pillar.
When an object collides against the front pillar 200 from the front of a vehicle, an external force is applied to the impact absorbing panel 204 via the resin garnish 206, whereby the impact absorbing panel 204 is deformed.
This relaxes an impact force that is to be transmitted to the pillar main body 203, but, for example, in the event that the impact absorbing panel 204 interferes with the window sash 211 while being deformed, the impact absorbing panel 204 is prevented from being deformed further.
As a result of this, it is conceived that the impact force applied to the impact absorbing panel 204 is not fully absorbed, whereby the impact is transmitted to the pillar main body 203 and the window sash 211.
Additionally, with a door having no window sash or a so-called xe2x80x9csash-lessxe2x80x9d window, the deformation of the impact absorbing panel 204 is prevented similarly by a window glass (which corresponds to the window glass 214), and therefore it is predicted that the impact is transmitted to the window glass of the door.
The present invention was made to cope with this, and an object thereof is to provide a front pillar for a vehicle which is prevented from interfering with a front door while being deformed to thereby effectively absorb and relax an impact.
With a view to attaining the object, according to an aspect of the invention, there is provided a front pillar for a vehicle which is formed into a tube by joining an inner panel to an outer panel from a passenger compartment side, the outer panel being constituted by a front face which is substantially parallel with a windshield, an external side face which is formed by bending the front face in such a manner as to be substantially parallel with a window glass of a front door and a rear face which is formed by bending the external side face toward the passenger compartment. The outer panel is made thinner than the inner panel, and wherein the rear face facing the front door is bent so as to form a valley groove which is hollowed toward the interior of the tube, so that when a large magnitude of external force is applied to the front face in a rearward direction, the outer panel is allowed to be deformed more largely than the inner panel to thereby collapse the valley groove, whereby the rearward travel of the rear face can be reduced.
When a large magnitude of external force acts in the rearward direction on the front face of the outer panel, which is made thinner than the inner panel and in which the rear face thereof facing the front door is bent so as to form therein the valley groove which is hollowed toward the interior of the tube, the rearward travel of the rear face is reduced by causing the outer panel to be deformed more largely than the inner panel to thereby collapse the valley groove.
As a result of this, the interference of the rear face of the outer panel of the front pillar with the front door can be prevented, whereby the deformation of the front pillar is not disturbed, thereby making it possible to effectively absorb the impact applied to the front pillar.